Dan Shaughnessy - May 26, 2002

BUNT NOT DOWN BUT FANS ARE POOR EXECUTION FROM OFFERMAN CRUCIAL BUNT NOT DOWN, SO NOW FANS ARE, A BIT - The most violet piece of writing I've ever seen. First read during graduation from the University of Massachusetts. It sets the standard for ripping someone.

It was all going a little too smoothly. Beating the Yankees was getting to be almost routine at the Fens and fans came to the park yesterday fully expecting another Red Sox win. Why not? The Sox already had taken five of six from New York this year and had the hottest pitcher in baseball on the mound.

There was actually too much good news for all of us to handle. Red Sox and Celtics success on the heels of the Patriot magic carpet ride brought national attention to New England for Memorial Day weekend. Toss in some rare sunshine and Beantown was finally feeling like the true Hub of the Universe.

But then Jose Offerman couldn't get a bunt down and the Sox' world crumbled.

Let us consider for a moment the piece of junk that is Offerman. He gets paid $6.5 million per year, hits .250 with zero speed and power, can't get a bunt down in a crucial situation, then won't talk about his failure after a 3-2 loss to the Yankees.

Really, would it be that tough for Offerman to tell Red Sox fans what happened up there? Maybe he thinks manager Grady Little was asking him to do something that he shouldn't be asked to do. Certainly, you wouldn't ask Manny Ramirez to bunt. But Offerman? Please, Jose. Do tell.

This isn't the first time this year Offerman's inability to perform the fundamental task cost a ballgame. He tried to bunt (sort of) in the eighth inning of a tie game Opening Day and popped up. The Sox lost by a run.

Yesterday, Offerman came up with men on first and second, none out, and the Sox trailing by a run in the eighth. Obvious bunt situation. But again, Offerman looked about as happy as a man who'd been ordered to attend a Kevin Costner film festival.

Offie gave it the standard halfhearted effort, fouled off one bunt attempt, pulled back and took a strike on another, then eventually got to swing at a 3-and-2 pitch and grounded into a rally-killing double play. That's when Yankees manager Joe Torre made the call to Mariano Rivera and for all practical purposes, the game was over. Offerman is 5 for 41 on this homestand.

Call him Offie. Call him Jose. Call him a bowser. Just call him a cab. Get him gone.

"Offie has been doing some good things for us on this ball club [he did make an excellent throw home in the first]," said the generous Little. "It just didn't work out for him right then."

Did Little think about pinch hitting (Framingham Lou Merloni can get a bunt down) for Offerman?

"We thought about it, but you know, Offie has gotten bunts down before in his lifetime. Probably more times when he was bunting for a base hit, which is a technique he tried to use right there, but it just didn't work."

Privately, Little's bosses were less generous in their assessment of Offerman's efforts. Pass the mustard. It could be time to swallow the salary. Those who keep applauding Dan Duquette for his creation of the 2002 Sox need to remember that Offerman was one of his biggest signings.

The loss prevented the Sox from moving to 20 games over .500 for the first time this season. Five of the seven Red Sox-Yankee games this year have been decided by one run and the Yankees have a shot at a weekend split tonight when Mike Mussina goes against Darren Oliver.

The Yanks look good anytime Mussina is on the hill and that's why the Sox figured Saturday in the park was a lock with red-hot Derek Lowe pitching.

"It's good to think that, but they're not easy to beat," said Lowe (7-2, 2.12). "I pitched OK, but OK against these guys is not good enough. It's too bad because we had a chance to win three straight games against them, which is not easy to do. I had a chance to pitch better, and I didn't."

Lowe, Yankees starter David Wells, and four relievers all were victimized by plate umpire Jim Reynolds, who missed more times than Paul Pierce in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Like most of sporting New England, Lowe and his teammates are caught up in the Celtics' quest to make it to the NBA Finals and many of the Henrymen went to the New Garden for the 5:30 start of the Celtics-Nets game. The baseball players didn't give themselves much cushion. The Sox and Yankees took 3 hours 18 minutes to play nine innings.

"I looked up and we had already played an hour and it was only the second inning," said catcher Jason Varitek.

"We would have liked a fast game," added Lowe, a huge hoops fan. "We were supposed to leave here for the [Celtics] game at 4:30."

Eventually they made it, and saw the incredible Celtics comeback.

But at Fenway there was just poor execution and a missed opportunity. Offerman couldn't get the bunt down and New England's perfect weekend dissolved.

This issue was brought up by some friends in reponse to the article written in the Providence Journal about the lowly Providence women's basketball team. Basically, its not that bad in my mind, and more so, its factual, accurate and has the right to be written.